Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Twenty-Two: Hunkering Down

Tul wasn't idle while waiting for Max to respond, he made a follow-up call to Tor asking him if they could move up their plan to that afternoon or even sooner and that there would be no reason to be subtle either.

He called down to the lobby to tell them that he was expecting guests at any time and to please call him when they arrived. He straightened up his desk, glancing out to see if Ann was still talking to the team.

He glanced down again at his phone. Still no response from Max, but he also noticed that Max was no longer in the office. He had wanted to talk to the other man before he called this next meeting, but he walked out to talk to them all anyway. He could fill Max in on everything later.

When he walked out of his office, Prin looked up at him, but all he did was nod and Prin rose understanding automatically by Tul's face what was about to happen.

"Ann, have you explained to everyone what happened upstairs?" Tul asked.

"Yes, I have. Is there anything else?"

"Yes," Tul responded. "I'd like you all to come into my office."

Tul wasn't trying to be dramatic, and it bothered him how frightened the whole idea of being called into his office made Wanna, but it couldn't be helped. He needed to have an honest and open conversation, and he couldn't do it in the open section of the office. At least not yet.

Once everyone was inside his office, he closed the shades, so no one outside of the office could see what was happening inside. Inside, Prin took out a slim object and as soon as they saw it, both Ann and Pongpat understood.

Prin look apologetically at Ann, but she just smiled reassuringly at him as she stood. He walked over to her, and she stood noncommittally as he slowly waved the RF signal detector wand he held in his hand over her whole body. She even raised her arms to help the way she did when she was going through airport security.

Wanna gasped and Sukrit was about to say something, but Pongpat put a finger to his lips to quiet them and neither spoke. Pongpat excitedly took his turn with Prin. He even put his phone on the table between the sofa and the comfortable chairs, indicating for Ann and the others to follow.

Tul picked up all the phones and took them to a table in the outer office. When he came back in, Prin had started on Sukrit. Nothing so far.

It wasn't until Wanna stood up and had the wand going over her that any of them heard anything. A slight ping sound alerted them as the wand went slowly over the pocket of her blazer. Wanna paled, and Tul wondered if she would faint; he'd never seen anyone look so white. Prin gestured to Wanna to empty her pocket. She laid out on a table two mini highlighters, two mini sticky note pads, a paperclip, and a business card.

Prin slowly waved the RF signal detector wand over the items and the pinging alert sounded over the two mini highlighters. He put rubber gloves on, put the highlighters in a small plastic bag, and put them outside next to the phones.

When he came back in, he saw that Wanna had started to cry. Sukrit had given him one of her handkerchiefs while looking accusingly at Tul. Still, no one spoke.

Tul directed his first question to Prin. "Do you think that is it?"

"Yes, for now. Everyone seems clean other than that, but we'll see what Tor's people say about the office."

"Can we speak now?" Ann asked. Tul nodded, but before Ann could say anything, Sukrit burst out angrily.

"You can't believe that Wanna planned to spy on you or us, can you? The idea is ludicrous. Is that why you called us in here?"